Parahuman (Parahuman Series) Read online

  Laney threw another grin Devan’s way. He hadn’t moved since retrieving his glasses. In fact, his posture seemed kind of tense and Laney suddenly wondered if he wore those glasses because he was embarrassed about his eyes. She found them amazing, but she could imagine the teasing he might have endured at the caprice of others. Children, and adults, could be quite cruel toward the differences in others.

  Laney gave Johnny’s shoulder a nudge. “Let’s go kid, on to your punishment.” The kid’s expression held no alarm at his looming chastisement.

  Retracing their steps, or following Devan since he had taken the lead, Laney was able to retrieve her backpack from where she’d unloaded it. There were only two water bottles so she gave one to Devan and shared the other with Johnny. Devan drank his in seconds while Laney drank half of hers before giving the other half to Johnny to finish off.

  Johnny maintained a consistent monologue of Devan’s heroic actions the entire way back, which was probably a good thing since Devan seemed disinclined to any conversation. He was walking swiftly in the lead as if trying to outpace Johnny’s chatter, but Johnny was doing a heck of a job keeping up with him, even though each of Devan’s strides equaled five of Johnny’s. Laney had to almost jog herself to keep up and her legs were still a little shaky from the last jog. She could have handled it, but Johnny was looking a little red in the face with both the running and the talking.

  “Hey, Devan, can we slow it down it bit. I doubt Johnny’s in any great hurry to get to his execution.” Laney commented with amusement.

  Devan’s strides immediately shortened. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  Laney and Johnny sidled up alongside him, but Devan kept his face forward. It was like he was trying to avoid eye contact which seemed kind of over the top since he was wearing those sunglasses again.

  As they walked Laney’s thoughts flashed back to Devan’s ‘here one second gone the next’ act. How had he known about the mountain lion? They had been too far away for him to have seen it. It was possible he had heard it growl, though, she hadn’t heard anything. At the time Laney had been too caught up in the situation to take in how fast Devan had taken off, but now that she looked back on it…she’d never seen anyone move that fast before. Blink of the eye kind of fast.

  “Devan, what was that crash I heard when you jumped over me? It was like a ‘crunch’ and ‘thump’ sound.”

  Johnny’s break from constant hero worship monologue to asking a question jerked Laney out of her inner musing. Crash? Wait…she’d heard that same thing.

  “I caught a dead tree branch and it broke off from the tree.” There was no hesitation in Devan’s ready explanation, and it should have induced anyone to believe that what he said was the truth, but for some reason Laney was unconvinced. It was like he had expected the question and had a prepared answer.

  “What part of you hit the branch? Did you hurt yourself?” Laney asked, looking him over. As he was so tall there was a lot to look over. No wonder the mountain lion had run away scared. The guy was huge.

  Devan threw a glance in her direction. Was that surprise in his expression? Difficult to tell with the sunglasses, but it sure seemed like surprise. Why would he be surprised that she was concerned about him being injured?

  “My shoulder caught the branch, but its fine.” He answered with a roll of his shoulder and another sidelong look in her direction.

  That response hadn’t seemed prepared. Had he really hurt himself? Maybe he had, but for some reason Laney was suspicious of the tree branch explanation. From what then? There were no rips or tears in his shirt, and no blood, so odds indicated it wasn’t an open wound…maybe a bruise then. He wasn’t rubbing it or hunched in a ‘this is killing me’ way, so in all likelihood it wasn’t a serious injury, but it was really bothering her that he might actually be hurt.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” Laney asked in concern.

  She received what she thought was yet another quizzical look in her direction.

  “Perfectly.”

  “Man, I wish we could have gotten a picture of that lion. Everyone at school would be soooo jealous.” Johnny lamented.

  Laney pulled her attention from Devan, laying her hand on Johnny‘s shoulder. “I doubt they would have been soooo jealous if that lion had gotten its claws on you. Next time, if there is a next time, you need to follow the rules and not go off on your own. There are some dangerous animals in this area; you need to be aware of that. It’s one of the reasons my dad brings a rifle with him.”

  Johnny nodded his head vigorously and vowed. “I’ll follow the rules next time, I swear. I really want to come back again.”

  “Yeah…I have a feeling your mom and dad will need some time to get over this, so it might be awhile before we see you again.” Laney commented dryly.

  “Oh, man.” Johnny grumbled.

  Laney gave Johnny a rueful smile and tousled his hair. “You gotta look for the consequences in everything.” Glancing up at Devan, Laney saw him staring down at them with a frown between his eyes again; as though he were confused by their interaction. He turned away quickly at her regard.

  Laney continued staring at him; her gaze taking in his extraordinary height, his multicolored hair, and those glasses that hid hypnotizing eyes. He wasn’t what anyone would call ‘pretty’ or ‘gorgeous’, but he was definitely striking with that russet skin tone, high cheek bones, full lips, and square chin. His physique wasn’t anything to spit on either.

  Personality wise, some people might call him off-putting, but Laney just found him very interesting. He seemed to take everything rather seriously, and way literally. He’d acted like he’d never heard of the ‘pulling my leg’ phrase? She thought that was like a universal idiom.

  Devan turned his head and Laney realized she’d been caught staring, again, she just hoped it hadn’t looked like she was ogling…because she just might have been. Swinging her gaze forward she saw that they were coming out of the trees.

  “Brace yourself, Johnny, you’re about to get bombarded.” Laney warned as they stepped into the clearing.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Johnny’s parents converged on them instantly when they stepped out from the trees. Devan backed up instinctively, a protective reaction, but they had no thought for him. Their only concern was their son. Taking Johnny into their arms they looked like police officers patting down a criminal for weapons, only they were searching for injuries. Johnny’s mother repeatedly embraced him as though that action would make everything that was wrong, right.

  Devan observed it all at a safe distance and with mystification. So much tumult over such a small thing.

  “What were you thinking? We talked about this all week. You were not to wander off, anything could have happened to you out there.” The fathers face was red with anger now that his worry had been appeased. The mother continued to hug him tightly, having not moved past the fear yet.

  The child wasn’t even fazed by it. Attempting to wiggle out of his mom’s tight grip he proceeded to tell the entire group about the mountain lion incident; in almost the same run on sentence he had provided Laney with. He portrayed Devan as some hero who flew out of nowhere to save him from the predator that was about to eat him.

  Not that Johnny had known that was about to happen to him at the time. Devan had located Johnny’s position from the moment his mother had started screaming, and had directed everyone’s attention toward that location. The child had been a half a mile away playing by the river’s edge. Devan had deemed Johnny comparatively safe; he wasn’t too close to the river and he was focused at building something with some sticks on the ground. Devan had figured someone would get to him before he did any damage to himself, and then when Nick had asked him to go with Laney Devan knew he could lead them right to the child with no problem.

  Unfortunately, Devan had been focused too much on the child, making sure he remained safe, and not on the surrounding area, and as the mountain lion had been down wind he also hadn’t s
melled it. Not until the lion had been close enough to attack had Devan finally seen it, and as a result he had had to take action swiftly.

  Sprinting and jumping over three hundred yards in seconds, Devan had barely made it to the child. The mountain lion had been in the process of pouncing on the oblivious Johnny for a meal when Devan ran in vaulting over the kid and slammed into the lion like a defensive football player, sending the lion hurtling head over rear. It had not put the mountain lion in a pleasant frame of mind. Instead of running off at the presence of a larger predator it had made a noisy argument over losing its prey. Devan hadn’t worried it would attack; the lion had known Devan for the predator he was and would have eventually run off, even if Laney hadn’t run in yelling. She had only frightened it off a little sooner.

  Everyone had turned and was staring at Devan. There was a mixture of facial expressions ranging from disbelief, to fear, to astonishment. Devan was accustomed to attention, but he didn’t need this type. Heroic acts ended up on the news, and that was the last thing he needed.

  “There was a mountain lion, and it did come in our vicinity, but Laney and I scared it off. I’m sure it wasn’t interested in eating anyone.” Lie. “It was down wind so I doubt it even knew we were nearby until we stumbled into each other.” Another lie. “I think we scared it as much as it scared us.” Well, the kid definitely hadn’t been scared. It was all a big adventure for him.

  Laney gave him a look of skeptical disbelief. It might have been either for his story or for her part in it, he wasn’t certain. She had come in at the tail end of the incident so she had only his word to go on. Devan gave her a shrug that conveyed ‘that’s my story and I’m sticking to it’. He needed to down play the incident from something horrific to a harmless animal sighting. He was the only one that had seen the animal coming in for the kill, and it was better if it stayed that way.

  The only response Laney gave was one raised eyebrow. It was a bit provoking and his mouth twitched reflexively. He pulled it back in before anyone noticed it.

  Devan’s description of the account was still too much for Johnny’s mother, she became near hysterical at the potential danger of a wild animal and demanded to be taken back immediately. Nick tried reassuring her that the lion was most certainly long gone, but she either didn’t believe it or she was just too far gone in her hysteria.

  “Okay, Brenda, we’ll leave right away. Let me just pack up the picnic area.” Nick grabbed Laney’s hand and pulled her away with him.

  “What exactly happened out there?” Nick demanded in a low whisper as they walked away.

  Keeping his face averted Devan kept his ear tuned to their conversation. He sensed rather than saw Laney looking his way and tensed waiting for her to mention his actions in the woods. There was a definite pause before she answered. What had she seen and processed?

  “It basically happened the way Devan said. He became aware of the lion first and put himself in front of Johnny as a shield. He began shouting and waving his arms. By the time I became aware of it and started yelling the lion was already running away.”

  Devan threw a quick surprised glance in their direction at her account of the story. She’d held back on many aspects of story and he wondered why.

  “So the lion didn’t try to attack any of you?” Nick’s hands were on Laney’s shoulders. It looked as if he was barely containing himself from doing his own injury search of her. She reached up clasp his hands in hers.

  “Dad, it didn’t touch any of us,” Laney reassured him, holding his hands in hers. Nick expelled a deep breath he must have been holding in.

  “So…then…Devan appears to be able to handle himself?” Nick seemed to gather himself emotionally as knelt to pack up the picnic supplies.

  Devan had redirected his gaze but could sense two pairs of eyes swinging his way. He did his best to appear nonchalant. The families were hovering around him as though his presence alone would keep any other predators at bay. If only they knew.

  “He seems very capable,” she commented, helping her father pack up.

  Devan couldn’t infer from her tone what she meant by that, he could only assume she was referring to his actions with the lion and hopefully not his flight through the forest. The trees, with any luck, had obscured his slightly abnormal sprint, and most people could and would discount the unbelievable thinking they had in all probability just imagined it in their minds and that it couldn’t possibly have happened the way they thought it had.

  Devan was hoping that was how she was processing the incident.

  Finished cleaning up, Nick walked toward Devan. Was he going to quiz him about the incident too?

  “Devan.”

  Devan turned toward Nick doing his utmost to look like he hadn’t heard a single word they had said.

  “Did you pay attention to the trail route here?” Nick asked, zipping up his backpack.

  Devan breathed a sigh of relief. “Of course,” he replied. Nick was apparently satisfied with Laney’s account of the event and didn’t need Devan’s, which was fine by him. He didn’t really want to go into the details.

  “How many trail markers did you count?” Nick slung the backpack over his shoulders.

  Devan knew right away what Nick was referring to. During their hike Devan had noted ribbons marking the trail. As soon as he had recognized the first trail marker he had began counting them all. “Twenty-two,” Devan answered easily.

  Nick’s eyebrows rose, and there was a slight twinkle to his eyes. He hooked both thumbs around the pack’s straps on his chest. “You caught that hidden one did you?”

  Nick had tied a small ribbon to a bush, an bush that had been off the trail slightly. “It caught my attention at the last second.” Devan lied. In actuality, he had seen it two hundred yards off.

  Nick considered him for a moment; Devan remained quiet during the process. “So you won’t have any problem leading us home then?” He questioned at last.

  “No problem.” Devan could do it with his eyes closed, but he didn’t say that.

  The smell of food coming from Nick’s backpack caused Devan’s stomach to growl and Nick had to be deaf not to hear it. The run through the woods had depleted a lot of his energy.

  Nick smiled. “Didn’t you get something to eat earlier?”

  “Not enough it would appear?” Devan commented with a small shrug. One sandwich and an apple weren’t close to a meal for him, he needed quadruple that amount.

  Nick handed him a couple sandwiches from his pack. Devan had one unwrapped and half of it in his mouth as Nick refocused his attention on the group. Devan sensed and heard Laney walking up behind him.

  “Little hungry there,” she quipped, eyeing the half sandwich that filled his mouth.

  Mouth too full to answer all he could do was shrug as she continued past. Devan found his gaze lingering on her form, resting again on her ponytail swinging between her shoulder blades. His body tightened unexpectedly. Devan stiffened even further at his body’s response. He was having the most illogical physiological reactions.

  “Okay everyone, let’s head out!” Nick yelled. The families were more than eager to comply as they glanced nervously around.

  Devan took the lead and Johnny was his shadow the entire way back, and since the mother wouldn’t leave her son’s side Devan ended up with a double shadow. When Johnny wasn’t going on about the lion, she was thanking Devan profusely for saving her son’s life.

  It made for a long return hike.

  Thankfully, Nick provided the dialogue for the hike, something Devan would have to practice at if it was going to be required of him. It was mostly geographical and animal information which Devan would have no problem relating. It was the conversation part he would need practice with.

  Laney took up the tail end of the group yet again. Devan had looked back at her once during one of Johnny’s enthusiastic outburst and she had been smirking, apparently amused at his predicament and the pained expression on his face. Devan felt
some relief viewing her expression; it indicated she wasn’t brooding on the incident and his actions. With luck she had dismissed it from her thoughts entirely.

  By the time they got back to the building everyone appeared less stressed—seeing that they arrived without any animal attacks—but visibly worn out. While Nick and Laney said farewell to the families, Devan hovered in the background. Johnny waved madly to Devan out his car window as the families drove away. He returned a more subdued wave back.

  “Well, I doubt that we’ll be seeing them again anytime soon.” Nick said with a sigh. Turning, he walked back toward Devan with Laney following. “It would appear you can handle yourself pretty well in a crisis situation, and you had no difficulty following the path back. Have you ever done any climbing?”

  “Yes, several years.” Devan had done a lot of harness and free climbing, before and after. These days he did mostly free climbing.

  “ATV experience?”

  “Five years. I have a dirt bike, YZ250F. Before that I had a Yamaha Warrior 350.”

  “What about mountain bike riding; have you done any of that?”

  Devan had mountain biked a couple times in his earlier years, and it had been an acceptable form of recreation at the time, but he would rather ride his dirt bike or run.

  “The last time I rode a bike was five years ago. I’m more of a runner. I don’t foresee any difficulty getting back on one though.” Devan received a grin and an eyebrow lift from both father and daughter. Same eyebrow and everything. It must be a hereditary thing.

  “Probably not,” Nick granted. “What about horseback riding?”

  “Horseback riding?” Devan grimaced slightly. “Horses are not my forte.”

  “You’re scared of horses, but have no problem taking on a mountain lion.” Laney broke in with amused skepticism on her face.